Protester: Ruling Party Vowed to Ban Shale Gas from Bulgaria
novinite.com
Bulgarian ruling center-right GERB party has taken a political commitment to ban the exploration and production of shale gas in the country, according to an environmentalist leader.
Sunday several thousand gathered in Bulgarian capital Sofia rallied in front of the House of Parliament to protest against what they see as a highly hazardous technique.
They were joined by thousands more in cities across the country, with the more prominent being in Varna, Dobrich and Plovdiv.
In the summer of 2011, the Bulgarian government gave a permit to US fuel giant Chevron to explore for shale gas in a fertile area in the north-east in Dobrich Region.
PM Boyko Borisov, Minister of Economy and Energy Traicho Traikov, and Minister of Environment Nona Karadzhova have this far spoken supportively of the exploration plans, but have vowed to preserve the environment in the procedure.
At the Sofia protest Saturday however, Angel Slavchev from a civic group called "Civic Initiative for the Ban on Shale Gas" told the BGNES agency that GERB representatives in Parliament had agreed to table and vote for legislation prohibiting shale gas production from Bulgaria.
According to Slavchev, Friday civic movement representatives have met with Parliament Speaker Tsetska Tsacheva and other GERB MPs, who told them the shale gas bill will be included in the Wednesday agenda.
They also said they had a "political decision to support the ban on shale gas," claimed the environmentalist.
People at the Saturday protest carried signs such as "Traicho and Nona, You'll Go to Jail", "Don't Gas Us!", and "We Want Bread, Not Gas!"
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Bulgarians protest, seek moratorium on shale gas
reuters.com
"I am opposed because we do not know what chemicals they will put in the ground. Once they poison the water, what shall we drink?" said Olga Petrova, 24, a student who attended a protest in Sofia.
In June, the centre-right government granted a license to U.S. energy major Chevron to test for shale gas in northeastern Bulgaria, with the hope that it could reduce the country's almost complete dependence on gas imports from Russia's Gazprom.
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The possibility for shale gas wells in the Dobrudzha region, Bulgaria's main grain producer, is stirring growing opposition by environmentalists who want to safeguard drinking water and land.
They worry the fracking may also trigger earthquakes and cause cancer and other diseases to those who would live near the shale wells. |
